Dreaming of the Sleep Lab

A recent paper looked at the phenomenon of "dreaming about the sleep lab."This phenomenon occurs when sleep lab participants dream about being in the laboratory.

The phenomenon of dreaming about the sleep laboratory is not a new discovery. In the 1960s, a researcher reported that in the dreams of his participants, dreamers often pictured the experimenters as cold exploitative scientists who did not care about anything but the experiment.

When exploring the content and narrative of these so-called "lab incorporation dreams," several themes emerged, such as dreams of being under observation, false-awakening dreams that the experiment had ended, and dreams reflecting performance anxiety related to the experiment.

It seems like sleeping in the laboratory actually makes these occurrences more frequent. False awakenings are similar to an anticipation of what you will be doing the way you wake up, sort of projecting your dreaming self into the future and potentially preparing for the day. These dreams are quite interesting and can feel very realistic; sometimes, the participant in the sleep laboratory will be confused when they do wake up for real and realize they are still in bed.

It’s possible participants feel some anxiety prior to sleep which triggers these dreams, some fear of disappointing the experimenter, or not being able to fall asleep.

· "I dreamt that I was laying right here and couldn’t fall asleep. After a long time, someone came into the room to tell me the simulation was over–by then, I felt too tired to wake up."

· "And then I was with my parents and I was crying, because I hadn’t succeeded in sleeping and I felt like very bad to have failed."

· "I was trying to fall asleep in my dream by holding onto an office chair and rocking it back and forth, aware of the cameras but desperate enough to fall asleep that I didn’t really care."

· "I dreamt that I was laying right here and couldn’t fall asleep. After a long time, someone came into the room to tell me the simulation was over–by then, I felt too tired to wake up."

In the last couple of examples, you can see multiple themes: Participants dream of having difficulty sleeping (performance anxiety), of being awakened at the end of the experiment (false awakening), and of being observed by cameras (object of observation).

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-factory/202210/dreaming-the-sleep-lab

What are your thoughts on "fear of disapointing the experiment" phenomenon?

#Sleep #Experiment #Anxiety #Psychology